Different experiences

[lucid]

Everyone has a different story. I'm curious to know how everyone learned what they know about computers/hacking and how long they've been at it. Has everyone here started at a young age? Does everyone here go to school to learn what they know? Is there an age thats too old to start learning?

I appreciate all answers

[Stackprotector]

There is no age to old to start learning, however it is always good to start at a young age, me myself got my first computer when i was 6,  from there i started experimenting with computers and electronics.

[lucid]

I was starting to think that I wouldnt get any responses. It seems most people are fortunate enough to know what they want from an early age.

[Axon]

I for myself didn't have any interest in hacking and security up until recently. And by saying recently I mean from 2008 up until now, I wasn't that fortunate to have a computer from an early age as some of the members here might have. The first computer i got in home was in 2005 (When I finished highschool) and it was a desktop bought by my brother. At the beginning I didn't have any interest in computers at all but know computers are like Oxygen from me, I can't live without them

At the beginning of my hacking/security experience I was interested in web hacking mainly SQL injection, it seemed easy to me. Most of my time in the old days i was searching for sites that are vulnerable to SQL injection, although I didn't achieve one of the main goals of SQL injection which to find the user/pass and decrypt it but I enjoyed it. As days passed by it got boring and I was looking for something more interesting, I've read on some forums that PC hacking is the best place for noobs so I shifted from Web hacking to PC hacking and Malware and shit like that and here I'am
 

[lucid]

Its good to hear that theres hope for the late bloomers. I personally have had the silly problem of having the interest but no computer.

[Deque]

I had no computer until I was 17, because I wasn't allowed to.
But I learned programming on my calculator which used Casio Basic (started programming on it at the age of 12).
I started studying computer science in the age of 23, got my Bachelor's degree last year and now studying for the Master's degree specializing in intelligent systems. Studying what I like was the best I could do. It is a pleasure for me to learn more in computer science.
I got interested in IT security only one year ago. I am a good programmer, but I consider myself a noob in the security field.

[lucid]

Ill be learning web applications and security through Devry online classes unless if someone thinks that there are better courses to take or perhaps a better way to learn.

Anyone else have trouble focusing on this shit when they started?

[Wolf]

I didn't really start with computer hacking until about two years ago. I did, however, always have a knack for getting into things I wasn't supposed to. I guess when i got a job in IT, I found another system I could cause mischief in. 

[hooded]

I started programming in VB.NET when I was 15 which was 2 years ago, then moved onto C# after I found I preferred its syntax. Now I'm learning Java (:

[fable]

I just started. I maybe have the last couple months under my belt of gradually learning this and that. It wasn't until this last week or so that I have picked up heavy research on the subject.

[puddi]

since i was around 8 i always used to go to an internet cafe and play half-life/cs. later on i learned how to use irc (the client i used was mirc), then i started learning shit by deleting this and that, i always noticed how the owner used to clean up my shit after i was off the computer.
i'm no hacker or anything like that but atleast i do know the basics like installing any software, setting up, fixing up errors on stuff, installing any OS and all that.

[techb]

We had our first computer when I was around 8. I was always into it. Exploring windows file system and seeing what all I could do.
That christmas my uncle bought me an electronics learning lab from radio shack by Mims. He sat down with me and tried to teach me some things. I was hooked on hardware.


After I moved in with my grandparents at around age 15, I picked up python and learned as much as
I could abut code and kinda dropped the hardware stuff. Then after I had a job I bought my first microcontroller, Basic Stamp from parallax, learned PBASIC. Then my uncle (same as before) got me a gift bag of arduino stuff. Like $400 worth. I then started learning Processing witch is a watered down C++.


Around the same time, I got into hacking both hardware and software. Well, not so much hacking, rather throwing code together to track IR light and other interesting stuff.


I tore apart every electronic device I had and did some circuit bending and interfacing my own firmware and what not.


Since then, I moved onto Android dev with Java, and am doing firmware with C.

[p_2001]

first exposed to a computer at school, those were old dos-only systems... lol I'm having a nostalgic moment here, please maintain silence...

we learned LOGO then BASIC and of course MSDOS before the two.
That used to happen when our teacher was in the class, the moment he got out.... type mario on the dos screen and play lol.

That was when I was 6-8 year old one year for each dos,logo and basic at school ....  Computers did not interest me then as I had a 8-bit video game to play mario... The little programming we were taught did not interest me much...
One day I turned 9 (big surprise!).....
a few months later, being the convincing brat I was, I "persuaded" my parents into buying me a computer.. lol a few tantrums and a few bargains, the promise of studying 1 hour extra everyday for 1 year ( never followed upon it) got me a windows 98 pentium 4 with 40 gb hd...
soon xp was released and I crashed it after 5 hours of installation..... went back to 98 and resumed wasting time on games....
some time later after I got bored with the games and completed mario,dave,prince..... I decided to explore... and then my curiosity peaked..

opened my old books and started learning DOS, directory structure, what are files, what is IO, devices, what is computer and all sorts of things,
soon I opened the system32 folder, meddled around and ran all files that could be run, then deleted a few files to see what happened.... cost me 100 rupees.

sadly there was no internet for me and well no place to learn... bought a book by Ankit Fadia ( a piece of trash), it mentioned hex editors and I did not have one... again deleted a few files, mom called the tech, paid 100 rupees and he "repaired" the pc, I innocently posed the question about hex editors, he installed one for  me .... learnt how to change START button text in 98 lol... used internet through telephone line, but it was very slow and I got discouraged about learning much from it. There were a lot of places back then that taught "trick", like changing this and changing that but never found a place where how and whys were taught :X.

by the time I got broadband for the first time I could say I was not a noob anymore but then it was time for choosing stream and preparing for competition exams, no computer for 3 years  , what I got was few hours in months...

Then it was college, lol got into one, novelty lasted 5 months which passed in a blur, sem exams, then learnt asm, c,c++, then came second year, I was officially student in CSE department..... now I'm third year lol and arrived here, learnt some sqli from here....




 

[smo]

i have always been interested in computers but when my sister got a boyfriend who was the systems architect at scale matrix (a cloud hosting company) he was about to be the ceo i think but he quit for a better job, anyways he made me like his apprentice when i was 14 and i just started learning stuff, he got me into linux which i now am religious about, i am just getting into programming and scripting, i am learning pyhton from googles lectures and i am about to start learning bash and perl. i already have a pretty good understanding of a few markup languages like yml. my sisters boyfriend was an uber h4x0r at one point but he got in loads of trouble with the police so now he cant legally teach me anything about hacking. if any of you want to take me under your wing that would be nice but otherwise i will just keep learning on my own

[hanorotu]

I got my first computer when I was 16, before that I had to deal with aol dialup and it wasn't worth it for anything other than runescape at the time.

However when I moved to the small town that I did I got my own laptop and an old member (roen hayden) brought me here one day at school and from them on I have always been here. He ended up graduating before me and I haven't talked to him since but this site and google has taught me everything I know.

I know quite a bit, mostly hardware and some software stuff, I am not big on the coding but I am pretty proficient in php and javascript (in applets and loops).